The Newport News economy benefitted from the strong growth it experienced in the 1990s and this growth is continuing. Its many business advantages have attracted firms such as the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab), Canon, UPS, Continental AG and Wolseley/Ferguson Enterprises among others to invest and expand in Newport News.

AAFES's Dan Daniels Distribution Center occupies more than 1.4 million square feet and employs more than 1,000 people. The $560 million Jefferson Lab particle physics laboratory is now engaging in world-class particle physics research, as well as ground-breaking research in high-intensity lasers and advanced materials. Scientists from around the globe are conducting experiments there. Jefferson Lab is not only attracting scientists, but technology-based firms as well. High-tech industry is now able to use a very intense, tunable light source, the free electron laser (FEL) for a variety of process operations. Canon, which located its flagship U.S. manufacturing plant, now employs about 1,100 workers in its 700,000 square foot facility devoted to office product remanufacturing, toner products and contract manufacturing, including injection mold tooling.

Newport News is one of the South’s leaders in attracting business locations and expansions. During the past five years more than 5,300 new jobs have been created or announced to add to the economic base of the City of Newport News. The capital investment associated with this job creation exceeds $450 million and adds more than 1,750,000 square feet of new industrial, office and regional medical space.

Jobs and investment were created throughout the city. The downtown experienced an economic transformation as Newport News Shipbuilding, with the assistance of the city’s EDA, invested heavily in white-collar job creation. These investments include an $8 million, 1,500 car parking garage for Navy personnel stationed at the shipyard; a renovated former Sears department store, and another renovated downtown building for shipyard engineers; the $58 million Herbert H. Bateman Virginia Advanced Shipbuilding and Carrier Integration Center, that will employ up to 700 engineers and scientists; and a 195,000 square foot office building to house 1,200 shipyard engineers.

Two companies have recently expanded in the city’s Copeland Industrial Park. Liebherr-America has added more than 300 new jobs in the past few years, manufacturing giant trucks used in the mining industry. The EDA has recently sold the 51,300 square foot Gambro Building to the Craft Bearing Company. Craft Bearing will create up to 100 new jobs in the facility. In 2001 the EDA sold a 26,670 square foot urban industrial building to Bay Electric Company, a HUBZone certified commercial contractor that has brought more than 100 jobs to the community.

In 2002, Ferguson Enterprises, the Western hemisphere’s largest plumbing supply wholesaler, began construction of its second corporate headquarters building within seven years near the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport. This facility was completed in 2003 and Ferguson Enterprises now employs more than 1,000 corporate employees in Newport News. In 2005 Wolseley North America, Ferguson's parent company, announced that it would build a 225,000 square foot headquarters building - the first of several - in Newport News. Wolseley will initially bring 420 new corporate jobs to Newport News.

Part of Ferguson’s corporate presence in Newport News is located in a renovated vacant department store transformed into back office space. Other back office users include a regional UPS package tracking and customer service center. In 1995, the EDA renovated a 107,000 square foot vacant retail space for UPS. In 1996, the EDA renovated a 75,000 square foot vacant retail space for MCI, which has recently been leased to Ferguson for additional back office space. Both the UPS and MCI centers were made possible with grants from Virginia’s Governor’s Opportunity Fund. The UPS facility is reported to be its most productive customer service center.

Several companies have located in Oakland Industrial Park, the region’s premier location for international manufacturers. Oakland Industrial Park is also located in a Virginia Enterprise Zone. In 1997, Twinpak which was recently sold to Printpack, occupied a 108,000 square foot manufacturing facility built for it by the IDA. Printpack company makes molded plastic food containers and has invested more than $12 million in its facility.

Other companies located in Oakland Industrial Park include Icelandic USA, Synerject, (a joint venture of Continental AG and the Australian-based Orbital Engine), (which has developed a revolutionary direct injection fuel system), Interstate Warehousing (with a $7 million investment in a freezer facility), Silicone Technology, Triton Industries (relocated from Canada), Nippon Express, International Communications Group, Innovated Machine, Newport News Industrial Corporation and PBM Plastics.

Two major new developments in the middle of the City are City Center at Oyster Point and Port Warwick. City Center at Oyster Point, a mixed-use, urban-scale development of class-A buildings, is being developed around a magnificent fountain plaza in the region’s most prestigious business park. When completed, there will be one million square feet of office space supported by parking garages, plus retail, hotel, entertainment and upscale apartment buildings. The initial phase includes three office buildings; totaling 280,000 square feet, an 1,087-car parking garage, 359 units in luxury, four-story apartments and a 34,000 square foot retail office building. This has generated about $75 million of private capital investment.

Construction on the second and third phases of City Center has begun with more than 200,000 square feet of fashion retail and office space, a 256 room, 70,000 square foot Marriott Hotel Conference Center and a 885-car parking garage, all to be completed by mid-2006. Plans are underway to construct more than 700 spaces in a third garage, along with between 50 and 125 luxury condominiums, additional restaurants and retail, and more office space. More can be learned on the development’s website, www.citycenteratoysterpoint.com.

Port Warwick is a $150 million “new urbanism” concept urban village development on a 115-acre tract of land opposite Oyster Point. Developed around a series of town squares, Port Warwick will contain more than 350 single-family, duplex and apartment units, some of which will have unique “living where you work” features. Port Warwick will also contain retail and office buildings, as well as public art. More can be learned about this new community at www.portwarwick.com.

The presence of Jefferson Lab and NASA's Langley Research Center, nearby, creates an environment that is attractive to high tech firms. Several successful high-tech start-up companies have located in Newport News over the past decade. Visi.net, for instance, is a local internet service provider. Dilon Technologies, located in the City’s Applied Research Center, has developed a break-through medical imaging technology, with the help of Jefferson Lab, to aid in the early detection of breast cancer.

The Applied Research Center (ARC) is a seven-story, 122,000 square foot office/research facility that forms part of the City’s commitment to economic diversification through the attraction and fostering of high-tech companies. ARC was designed to provide an environment conducive to federal-university-private sector research synergies. Besides private-sector companies like Dilon Technologies, ARC is home to researchers from Jefferson Lab and four regional universities — Christopher Newport University, the College of William and Mary, Norfolk State University, and Old Dominion University. ARC also contains a Photonics and Plasma Research Center and the regional offices of Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology.

Newport News has experienced its recent economic success due to a combination of factors that have given domestic and international firms compelling reasons to invest in the Virginia community. The availability of skilled labor, moderate costs, a central location and an aggressive EDA with a problem-solving attitude have spelled success for the city’s economic development efforts and for the companies that have located in Newport News, Virginia.